Introduction

A path of love

At its heart, anthroposophy is a path that gradually reveals the true nature of the human being, and leads the individual from self-knowledge to the spiritual in the world. It is a path of love.

At its beginning the path leads through humility and reverence, which together with the study of spiritual literature form. The first stage of the meditative path. The next steps include the establishment of attention, equanimity, and a close observation and honouring of the sensory world.

These stages of the journey lead to a new domain of soul-spiritual experience (imagination). Deepening the meditative practice further allows one to move beyond imagination to understanding and becoming one with spiritual forces and processes (inspiration).

Finally, the journey leads to the complete loss of personal ego and the realization of the universal self, which permits one to live as one with the spiritual realities and beings of the cosmos.

Anthroposophy is a path and the insights gained along the journey are orientations for the traveller.

The following pages introduce a number of fundamental exercises to help develop a presence of mind which respect the contemporary conditions of consciousness and civilization and at the same time induce powers to sustainably change these conditions.